Stanley Kubrick // The Shining (1980) / Movie Review / Buy 1-Disc UK Dvd

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The Shining (1980)
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Release Date: 10-09-2001

Format: DVD

Number of Discs: 1

Catalogue Number: D021156

Label: WarnerBros

To listen to Stephen King, director Stanley Kubrick has teamed with jumpy Jack Nicholson to destroy all that was so terrifying about his bestseller. Yeah, right, Mr. King, and all your other film adaptations of your books were directed by a genius like Kubrick? King is talking crap: this film is a work of art.

In his book, King took a fundamental horror formula - an innocent family marooned in an evil-dwelling with a grim history - and built layers of terror upon it.The father is gradually possessed by the demonic, desolate hotel.

With dad going mad, the only protection mother and child have is the boy's clairvoyance - his 'shining' - which allows him an innocent understanding and some ability to outmanoeuvre the devils. But Kubrick sees things his own way, throwing 90% of King's creation out and making a truly terrifying film.

The crazier Nicholson gets, the more menacing he looks. Shelley Duvall (who was bullied without mercy by Kubrick to get the performance of her career out of her) transforms the underwritten wife of the book into a character who mirrors our own fears of Nicholson the crazier he gets.

An outstanding achievement by Kubrick and a truly terrifying experience is guaranteed when entering his vision of terror.

The picture was cut to 142 minutes by Kubrick soon after the picture.

5 STARS OUT OF 5

Opening with spectacular aerial shots of a beautiful, mountainous landscape, Stanley Kubrick's horror classic THE SHINING, based on Stephen King's best-selling novel, sucks the viewer into his frightening tale with quiet, relaxing visuals - but the ominous soundtrack warns that all is not right at the gorgeous Overlook Hotel. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson at his eyebrow-raising best), a Vermont schoolteacher, accepts a job as the winter caretaker of the glorious early-20th-century resort that operates only in warm weather because the snowy roads deny access in the colder months. Jack brings his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), with him, as well as his young son, Danny (Danny Lloyd)--who brings with him a little boy named Tony who lives in his mouth. As the Torrances settle in for the long, lonely months ahead, strange, unexplainable things start occurring in the hotel--and in every scene Jack seems to be growing a little more evil and dangerous...

With superb camerawork (the Steadicam follows the evil through narrow hallways and ornate rooms), extraordinary sound detail (the scene in which Danny rides his Big Wheel across the Overlook's hardwood and carpeted floors is an aural classic), and a terrifying score (based on the work of Bela Bartok), THE SHINING is an unforgettable masterpiece, a psychological supernatural thriller featuring outstanding performances from Nicholson and Duvall--and a cast of dead twin girls and suicidal ax-murdering ghosts, among other bloodcurdling figures.

1980, 146 MINS, US

Dir: Stanley Kubrick

Prod: Stanley Kubrick

Scr: Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson

Ph: John Alcott

Ed: Ray Lovejoy

Mus: Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind

Art Dir: Roy Walker

CAST:

Jack Nicholson
Shelley Duvall
Danny Lloyd
Scatman Crothers
Barry Nelson
Anne Jackson

(Warner)

Dvd Special Features

Price: Ł9.99
UK Sterling (new)(includes UK postage & packaging)

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